"Robert F. Young - The Worlds of Robert F. Young" - читать интересную книгу автора (Young Robert F)

them stood a huge and dazzling console with a 24-inch screen, and if you were TV hunting, you couldn't
go by it any more than a hungry mouse could go by a new mouse trap baited with his favorite cheese.
"We can never afford that one," Henry said.
"But, darling, we can afford to look, can't we?"
So they looked. They looked at the sleek mahogany cabinet and the cute little double doors that you
could dose when you weren't watching your programs; at the screen and the program in progress; at the
company's name at the base of the screenтАФBAALтАФ
"Must be a new make," Henry said. "Never heard of it before."
"That doesn't mean it isn't any good," Janice said.
тАФat the array of chrome-plated dials beneath the company's name and the little round window just
below the middle dialтАФ
"What's that for?' Janice asked, pointing at the window.
Henry leaned forward. "The dial above it says `popcorn but that can't be."
"Oh, yes it can!" a voice behind them said.
Turning, they beheld a small, mild-looking man with a pronounced widow's peak. He had brown
eyes, and he was wearing a brown pin-striped suit.
"Do you work here?" Henry asked.
The small man bowed. "I'm Mr. Krull, and this is my establishment. . . . Do you like popcorn, sir?"
Henry nodded. "Once in a while."
"And you, madam?"
"Oh, yes," Janice said. "Very much!"
"Allow me to demonstrate."
Mr. Krull stepped forward and tweaked the middle dial halfway around. Instantly, the little window
lighted up, revealing a shining inbuilt flying pan with several thimble-sized aluminum cups suspended
above it As Henry and Janice watched, one of the cups upended itself and poured melted butter into the
pan; shortly thereafter, another followed suit, emitting a Lilliputian cascade of golden popcorn kernels.
You could have heard a pin dropтАФor, more appropriately, you could have heard a popcorn kernel
popтАФthe room was so quiet; and after a moment, Henry and Janice and Mr. Krull did hear one pop.
Then another one popped, and then another, and pretty soon the machine-gun fire of popcorn in
metamorphosis filled the room. The window now was like one of those little glass paperweights you pick
up and shake and the snow starts falling, only this wasn't snowтАФit was popcornтАФthe whitest, liveliest,
fluffiest popcorn that Henry and Janice had ever seen.
"Well, did you ever!" Janice gasped.
Mr. Krull held up his hand. The moment was a dramatic one. The popcorn had subsided into a
white, quivering mound. Mr. Krull tweaked the dial the rest of the way around and the pan flipped over.
Abruptly a little secret door beneath the window came open, a tiny red light began blinking on and off,
and a buzzer started to buzz; and there, sitting in the newly revealed secret cubicle, was a fat round bowl
brim-full with popcorn, and with little painted bluebirds flying happily around its porcelain sides.
Henry was entranced. "Well, what'll they think of next!"
"How utterly charming!" Janice said.
"It's good popcorn too;' Mr. Kroll said.
He bent over and picked up the bowl, and the little red light went out and the buzzer became silent.
"Have some?'
Henry and Janice took some, and Mr. Krull took some himself. There was a reflective pause while
everybody munched. Presently: "Why, it's delicious!" Janice said.
"Out of this world," said Henry.
Mr. Kroll smiled. "We grow our own. Nothing's too good for Baal Enterprises. . . . And now, if I
may, I'd like to demonstrate some of our other special features."
"I don't know," Henry said. "You seeтАФ"
"Oh, let him!" Janice interrupted. тАЬIt won't hurt us to watch, even if we can't afford such an expensive